Leinster title for Liam Brady

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john.ocallaghan

Wednesday 14 November 2018 17:36

Following the outstanding juvenile races the senior athletes from Tullamore Harriers lined out in the Leinster Cross Country championships on Sunday and the performance of the day came from Liam Brady who was crowned Leinster Senior Cross Country champion with a finish of almost a minute over 2nd placed Sean Hehir from Rathfarnham AC.

Liam, who last week took the County Senior, title showed huge aptitude over the 10,000 metre course. It was a fantastic run by Brady who became the first Tullamore Harriers’ member to win the Leinster senior cross country title since John O’Toole in 1987 – the legendary Rhode man also won it in 1983. To put the icing on the cake, Brady led Tullamore Harriers to the club title for the first time in their long and illustrious history. The closest they had come to winning this coveted honour previously was in 1973 when they were beaten by just four points.

Next for Tullamore was Mathew Molloy (17th) and along with Jay Donegan (19th) and Padraig Berry (20th) the lads were 1st Leinster club team. Leonard Mooney and David Fox were 26th and 35th overall resulting in silver county medals with the top 6 to score. The team for Tullamore Harriers was : Liam Brady 32:57, Mathew Molloy 37:08, Jay Donegan 37:29, Padraig Berry 37:39, Leonard Mooney 38:11, David Fox 39:10, Conor Butler 40:25, Tony Harpur 43:35 and Mark Harpur 46:10.

Nadine Donegan had yet another super run when taking 2nd place in the Senior Ladies race. She was only 20 seconds behind winner Lauren Dermondy (Castlecomer AC) and appeared comfortable for the 5000 metres in the sloppy hilly course. Nadine was 7th in this race last year so should be very pleased with her performance in among the best in Leinster. Nita McLoughlin (13th) was next Tullamore lady and was closely followed by Dympna Fox and Tara McKinney who dug deep for the team. They were 4th club and took bronze county team medals. Results: Nadine 19:30, Nita 21:06, Dympna 21:54, Tara 22:48

Well done to the men and ladies and also the juveniles who represented their club and county on such a difficult day. Every athlete on the field has a part to play in individual and team results. Congratulations again to all.